August 10, 2007

Here in Rome, we are supposed to recycle. There's a nationwide campaign whose slogan is, "Butta bene, vivi meglio!" (Trash well, live better!) My roommates have separate containers for regular trash, plastic, paper, and glass, although there is only one bin out on the street for plastic, glass, and metal. My roommates, however, have a very strange notion of what is recyclable and what isn't. Here's a list of things they've recycled when they shouldn't have:

Paper Recycling:

Pizza boxes (waxy paper)

Used paper towels (with food on them)

Plastic Recycling:

Plates and cups (apparently not recyclable in Italy)

Cellophane product wrapping (some with food stuck to it)

IKEA price sticker (since we all know stickers are recyclable)

Rope (that plasticy, waxy kind)

Q-tips (seriously?)

Fortunately, glass is pretty straight-forward. I was also told by a roommate that my yoghurt cups were not recyclable, even though they have a cute little recycle symbol on the bottom and are clearly not the same as disposable plastic espresso cups.

Although I applaud them for attempting to recycle everything that they can, I just have to wonder how many batches of plastic recycling their rope and Q-tips will ruin.

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is a bioarchaeologist and assistant professor at the University of West Florida. This is her personal blog about archaeology, bioanthropology, and the classical world. Follow her on Twitter (@DrKillgrove) or G+, or follow PbO on Facebook.